Monica Valentinelli

narrative & visual storyteller

Blog

Freelance Writing

Content Saturation and its Effects on Your Writing

According to this article about amazing web stats from January 2009, there are an average of 900,000 blog posts published within a twenty-four hour period. Even if the average reader would skim through each post at a rate of one per minute, it would take approximately 1.75 years to read every one.

With this amount of content added on a daily basis, the web is rapidly approaching a point where content is becoming heavily saturated. Content aggregators that point to other people’s content are increasing in popularity, even though the demand for original content is not slowing down.

Content saturation is a challenge that every content creator (i.e. writer) must face sooner or later. There are a few effects of content saturation that are becoming more and more apparent each day, and I’d like to point these out to you:

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Short Stories

Genre Fiction and Why I Can’t Look at a Piece of Pie

As a writer, I’ve found that I really enjoy experimenting with different themes in fiction. My personal preference is to write in the horror, dark fantasy and science fiction genres because of the freedom and flexibility they provide. The settings I create (or write for) offer me the chance to explore heroic and villainous characters in new and interesting ways. You won’t find me writing a lot of gore or stories about “abuse.” I’m more interested in that little bit of light that resides in all of us — even the characters you least expect to see it in.

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Blog

Breaking News: Using Facebook Pages? Log in ASAP

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up who is using Facebook “fan” pages. Yesterday, Facebook changed those pages to look more like profile pages, and added some new functionality. 3rd party ads are now more visible, you can provide a status update and they look more like a personal page. (Additionally, there is no ability to update your status message automatically by adding an “app” to connect with Twitter, either.)

However, if you have an existing account this new functionality is a hindrance rather than a benefit. The profile information that you had filled out to go underneath your logo is shifted to a new tab, and most of your customization has shifted.

If you’re using a Facebook page, I recommend logging in to see if this works for you. Otherwise, you can join me today while I dig around and see how I can make mine look better.

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Announcements

Need Help with Twitter? Free Webinar!

Hi everyone, just wanted to briefly pop in and mention that I’d like to invite you to sign up for a free webinar that’s going to occur this Wednesday. The webinar, led by Eric Glazer from Marketing Studio with three other professionals, is about “Leveraging Twitter to Grow Your Small Business.”

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Consulting and Marketing

Remember, Social Media is about Being Social

Twitter. Facebook. MySpace. Forums. Messengers. There are a ton of tools out there that fall within the purview of “social media,” and a glut of articles telling you how to use them and what the “rules” are. In one article you might read that you’re supposed to use Twitter this way; in another, you might learn that you should only use MySpace if you’re a musician or under twenty-five.

The one thing that all of these social media tools and platforms have in common is the ability to have good conversation. What is “good conversation”? Well, that’s really up to you to decide, but I can tell you what it isn’t. Conversation does not occur when you talk “at” someone, it occurs when you talk “with” someone. It’s not just about one person’s profile, it’s about sociology and how people interact with one another, which can be challenging to remember because you don’t “see” the person you’re conversing with. You just “see” their comments or their replies.

I know a lot of writers, business owners and other folk out there engage in social media because you have something to sell. That special “something” could be your expertise, your product or your services. I absolutely agree that promoting yourself using these free channels is a great idea, but I also think that the “selling” is a bit overused and the pitch is getting lost and ignored. Why? Because social media is getting over-saturated with promotions that don’t offer anything of value to the reader. Coupons, free trials and such are one thing, but asking people to “buy your book” or “friend me” without doing anything for that person in return gets to be a bit annoying after a while. (Cue *sound effect* thanks to @strangeshe.)

Think this might be you? Take a minute and look at the content you’ve provided in your tool of choice. Are you only promoting yourself? Are you asking people to promote you without asking anything in return? Or are you getting to know the people in your network by following the social “rules of engagement” on that platform?

Oh, no. You just realized that you’re one of those people? Don’t worry! If you feel like you’re stuck in a rut, try engaging people in discussions about topics that have nothing to do with your work or what you’re selling. By establishing common ground with someone, your “followers” and “friends” will get to know you as you and will help you out when you least expect it on-or-offline.

So why not get started today and become your own social media expert. Get to know the people in your network. You never know what kind of conversation might turn up!

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